X-ray apparatus



J1me 1951 A. H. FEIBEL ET AL 2,556,909

X-RAY APPARATUS Filed Sept. 7, 1946 Y Flad.

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Patented June 12, 1951 X-RAY APPARATUS Adolph H. Feibel and Elbert E.Greenberg, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignors to The Kelley-Koett Manufacturing00., Covington, Ky., a corporation of Ohio Application September 7,1946, Serial No. 695,536

2 Ciaims. 1

Our invention relates to X-ray apparatus such as is employed byphysicians, for example, in X-ray photography, and examination throughfluoroscopic screens.

In a physicians ofiice, in particular, the apparatus used must beattractively housed and conveniently mounted for use. It is desirable insuch apparatus to house the X-ray generator proper in a sealed oil-tightcasing filled with a special oil. In addition there are a host ofconnections which extend from the sealed casing to rheostats and othercontrolling instruments which are to be manipulated by the operator, andare located on the exterior of the apparatus.

There is a limitation in possible outer finishes in making up in thefactory an oil sealed unit of the proper metals for resisting corrosion,etc., and which adapt themselves to the action of the X-rays.

The devices in question are heavy and not easy to handle. The repair ofanything that goes wrong inside of the sealed housing is naturallyimpossible in the ofiice of the user. Also the repair of the variouselectrical connections constitutes a problem which requires time andpatience and a proper place to work, with soldering facilities, etc.

Except for replacing a fuse, the work on an X-ray apparatus of the typenoted can best be done in the factory and the work of a physician ortechnician, or of a shipping concern, in crating up such a device isquite likely to mar its external appearance. Not only is this the casebut when the physicians X-ray device is at the factory, he is withoutits use, which may be a great hardship.

Accordingly it is our object, consistent with the problems of mountingand using X-ray apparatus, such as for radiography, fluoroscopy and thelike, to provide an X-ray device in which the operating parts includingthe sealed-in chamber are made up as a cartridge which can quickly andreadily be inserted into the supports and ornamental casing of thecomplete device. All controls and electrical connections except for asingle cable connection by means of a pronged terminal and socket, andall parts of the generator, make up this cartridge. A physician owningone of the machines can thus dismount the parts which might get out oforder all in one piece, and replace them with a substitute unit which issimply dropped into place and plugged into the supply cable. When themanufacturer is notified of some disorder of any apparatus, it will atonce ship a substitute cartridge, which means that except for the timebetween notice and arrival of the cartridge, the X-ray machine will bein operation.

All repairs can be done under factory conditions without service men whomust be called in, under present conditions. The practice will be torebuild each cartridge when it is returned and hold it for the nextsubstitution called for. Surface defects which may develop on account ofpacking and shipping, or during repair, will not be of any importance,since the cartridge is completely housed in the treatment apparatus whenit has been located thereon.

To attain this general object, various items must be provided for. It isdesirable although not necessary to provide for considerable tolerancein fit of the cartridge in the casing While at the same time it isimperative to have a close and accurate register of the operating parts.Since the X-rays are to be caused to emanate through a discharge conewhich is directed as required by the operator, it is required that whenthe cartridge is set into place it will be properly oriented so that thewindow in the sealed unit will register with the orifice of thedischarge cone, the latter desirably being a part of the casing of thedevice, rather than of the cartridge.

The cartridge is heavy, and since a pivotal mounting is required for thegenerator device, there exists the problem of supporting a heavycartridge in a separable casing. This problem is solved in our presentconstruction by supporting the cartridge directly on the trunnions ofthe apparatus and supporting the casing, as it were, from the cartridgemountings.

The casing is arranged preferably in two parts, a main portion and aremovable lid. To remove and replace the cartridge, the lid of thecasing is all that must be removed.

Since the control dials for the apparatus are part of the cartridge, thecasing must provide apertures for them to extend through. whichapertures are placed in the lid of the casing, since this is the mostreadily manipulated part of the casing. Incidentally the closeness offit of parts preferably results in an outside appearance as if theseveral control dials are on the outside of the apparatus, although infact they protrude from the inside.

For fusing the device, the arrangement has been made for a single fuse,which is a plug fuse, located in the top of the cartridge, and thusreadily available through a hole in the lid of the casing, which may bekept closed by a fiat friction cover. Otherwise a hole large enough forthe fingers to enter in order to unscrew the fuse would constitute anentrance for dirt into the interior of the casing.

In the drawings, we have shown but one example of the invention, thenovelty of which will be set forth in the claims that follow, to whichreference is hereby made. It is not intended by the use of one exampleto exclude equivalent structures within the scope of the said claims.

Figure 1 in the drawings, is a side elevation view of the treatmentapparatus, with the discharge cone directed downwardly.

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the same.

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevation of the generator, taken at rightangles to the showing in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an exploded view with the casing portion partly broken away,to show the relation of the cartridge to the casing.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the cartridge.

Figure 6 is a plan view of the cartridge.

Figure 7 is a section of the complete generator taken on the line 1--1of Figure 3.

The apparatus is illustrated with a standard i, and a supporting arm 2thereon. Normally such an arm is movable up and down on the standard,and slides in and out thereon. The end of the arm is forked as at 3, andprovides for .two trunnion supports for the complete generator.

The particular cartridge illustrated consists of a sealed oil filledcontainer 4 having secured thereon a protective removable housing 5between which housing and the top of the container, is a chamber whichcontains the wiring connections for the device which are connected up tothe two control dials 6. These dials are mounted in the top of thehousing portion 5 so that they protrude therefrom. An indicator meter 1is also secured on the top of this housing. Also in the top of thecontainer portion 4 are diaphragms 4a which allow for expansion andcontraction, these diaphragms being flat, and located beneath aprotective apron 5a of the housing.

The fuse protection for the wiring is by means of an exposed fuse 8which is located at one side of the housing 5. It might be desirable touse more than one fuse. Here we show a cylindrical plug fuse. It couldbe a cartridge type fuse, as well, the point being that the fuseprotection is removable and located so as to be available through anopening in the outer casing, to be described. The electric connection tothe cartridge terminates in a single forked terminal plug 9, which isagain desirable although not an absolute requisite.

, Around the upper end of the sealed casing is a flange 59, which is,incidentally, the sealed joint between the top and the body of thecartridge. This flange functions in the mounting of the cartridge. Oneach side of the sealed casing are trunnion supports II, which may besleeves, secured by a flange to the housing, and internally threaded forreception of trunnion pins 12. If desired, set screws l3, may be setinto the sleeves to bind the engagement of the trunnion pins. Thesepins, in the example, have heads l4, cylindrical portions I5, which liein the trunnion openings in the fork of the mounting arm, threadedportions i6 which are threaded into the trunnion supports Ii. As soarranged the cartridge could be mounted by itself in the supporting arm,the significant point being that when mounted the heavy cartridge isheld directly on supports 4 which engage it and engage the mounting arm.

The casing of the device, as noted is in two parts. A main portion 11,and a lid [8, which is shaped to embrace the housing portion of thecartridge, already described. In the sides of the main portion 11 areholes I!) for reception of the pins and which fit fairly closely onthese pins.

The upper edge of the portion ll of the casing is formed with inwardlyand upwardly angling ledges 20, 2!] one at each side. The ledges arepositioned to admit at least one dimension of the sealed-tight containerportion 4 between their ends. The height of these ledges from the innerbottom of the portion i1 is somewhat less, preferably, than the heightof the sealed tight portion of the cartridge. As a result, when thecontainer portion 4 is set into the casing portion i1. it will be heldin position, as shown in Figure '7, with its sides spaced from thecasing and its bottom spaced from the casing.

In its other dimension the casing portion IT is wide enough to leavespace for the trunnion supports H, which act as spacers for thecontainer within the casing on the two sides not above mentioned.

The lid portion N3 of the casing, may well held in place when theapparatus is set up by means of an overlap as at 213a, which is held onthe portion i! of the casing by means of screws 2 I. This lid portionhas the supply cable 22 passing through it, by means of a grommetelement 23. Inside of the casing is the companion plug terminal element24, which is to be plugged into the terminal plug 9, that projects fromthe housing on the cartridge. Angle pieces to serve as rests asindicated at 25, are secured'to the inside of the lid, and rest on theflange about the sealed container portion of the cartridge. There is ahole 26 in the lid portion which comes opposite the fuse on the housing.This hole is preferably closed by a friction cap Z'i, the flange ofwhich fits in the hole. 7

There are holes 29 in the lid which permit the two control dials toprotrude through sufficiently to be manipulated by the operator. Also asight opening 35) for the meter on the cartridge housing portion isprovided in the lid..

The discharge cone 3! is secured in place in the casing portion H, atprecisely the point where the discharge window 32 appears in thecartridge, the cartridge being guided and held when mounting it withrelation to the casing so that this precise alignment takes place.

As so constructed, the entire apparatus is sold, say to a physician andput into use. If a defect occurs, the physician notifies themanufacturer who sends him at once a new cartridge. He then proceeds asfollows: He first removes the lid of the casing and disconnects the plugconnector, by removing the attaching screws, in the particular example.He then removes the trunnion pins which will require, in the exampleshown, loosening the set screws in the trunnion supports by inserting ascrew driver between the casing and the cartridge. He then lifts theentire generator structure out of the supporting arm fork and slips themain casing portion off of the cartridge. This completes thedisassembly. He then inserts the new cartridge, dropping it into thecasing so that it rests on the supporting flanges, already described.This will bring the trunnion supports to substantial alignment with thetrunnion holes in the casing portion ll. He then places these partsbetween the forks on the apparatus arm,

76 inserts the trunnion pins, and screws them' in,

setting the set screws, when desired, which prevents accidentalunscrewing of the trunnion pins during use. He then places the lid ontothe easing, connecting up the plug connectors, and screws the lid inplace. His apparatus is then ready for operation as usual.

As shown in the drawings, friction washers are provided at both sides ofthe yoke in accordance with usual practice and these will have to beremoved and replaced with the trunnion pins.

During shipment of the removed cartridge to the manufacturer, and duringthe repairs on the cartridge at the factory, marring of its exterior isnot a serious damage and requires little attention. The apparatus in thedoctors office remains attractive. The casing is not required to beheavy enough to support the cartridge, and the assembly and disassemblyis practically fool proof. Further the refusing of the device is simpleand possible without any disassembly what ever. To the observer thegenerator assembly shows no evidence of being made as it is.

It is quite evident that various modifications could be made in theparticular structure to provide the several essential means which typifythe example. Further many of the desirable aspects of our inventioncould be employed with elimination of others.

Thus some or all of the electrical controls could be secured on the lid,with detachable electrical connections to engage terminals located onthe unit. This would to a certain extent gain the end in view, but withlimitations over the simpler practice of housing all of the controldevices as by a housing as at 5 located on the sealed container leavinga single terminal only for connection to the supply cable.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an X-ray discharge device, a one-piece sealed unit constitutingthe X-ray generator, a housing located on the sealed unit containingelectrical supply connections to the X-ray apparatus within the unit andon which are mounted control dials for the unit, a casing enclosing saidunit and said housing, said casing comprising a body portion and a lidportion, said lid portion enclosing said housing and having aperturestherein disclosing said control dials for manipulation by an operator,trunnions removably mounted on said unit and adapted to mount the unitto a pair of spaced trunnion supports, said trunnions passing throughapertures in said casing and engaging bosses on said unit, spacing meanswithin said casing serving to maintain said casing spaced from said unitwhen said trunnions are in place, thereby providing a device in whichthe weight of the enclosed unit is borne directly by the trunnions andthe casing is supported from the unit and its mountings.

2. In an X-ray discharge device, a sealed unit constituting the X-raygenerator, a housing located detachably on the sealed unit andcontaining the electrical supply connections to the X-ray apparatuswithin the unit and on which are mounted the control dials for the X-rayunit, a casing for enclosing said unit and said housing, said casingcomprising a body portion and a lid portion, said casing havingapertures therein disclosing said control dials for manipulation by anoperator, trunnions removably mounted on said unit and adapted to mountsaid unit to a spaced pair of trunnion supports, said trunnions passingthrough apertures in the said casing and engaging bosses on said unit,said bosses serving as spacers for the casing, a flange around one endof said unit, and means within said casing engaging said fiange, saidmeans serving to space the casing from the unit at the sides adjacent tothe ones occupied by said bosses and to hold the casing spaced from theunit at the end of the unit opposite to the flange.

ADOLPH H. FEIBEL. ELBERT E. GREENBERG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,628,699 Wappler et a1 May 17,1927 1,823,535 Frutkow et a1 Sept. 15, 1931 1,877,260 Wantz Sept. 13,1932 1,973,415 Mutscheller Sept. 11, 1934 1,987,413 Olson Jan. 8, 19352,360,036 Boucher Oct. 10, 1944

